5 Summer Salads to Not Sweat it Out in the Kitchen

What better way to pack a bunch of healthy, nutrient-rich food than to put them together in a salad that boasts of taste, texture, flavours and colours all in one. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Here are five appetising salad recipes that are a perfect blend of healthy and tasty food. If you’re looking out for something that wouldn’t involve hours of toil and sweat in the kitchen, then these recipes are exactly what you need.

Taboulleh of Quinoa Date

Ingredients:

100 gms cooked quinoa

50 gms tomatoes, de-seeded and diced

50 gms cucumber, diced

10 gms spring onions, sliced

½ cup Italian parsley

2 tbsp fresh mint

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt to taste

2 gms cracked pepper

Method:

1. Rehydrate the Quinoa by cooking it in an aromatic stock of your choice. Set aside in a refrigerator to cool.

2. Bring all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and mix well.

3. Place the lemon juice and salt in a bowl and mix well to dissolve the salt. Add the olive oil and mix it into the salad. Mix well and serve.

Tip: This is a sour salad if it's consumed immediately. When dressed and combined an hour or two before service, the strength of the lemon tends to fade and be milder.

3. Transfer to a serving plate, scatter the goat cheese on top and drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil in 3:1 ratio.

Tip: It is important to give the fennel bulbs a good char-grilled mark. That burnt flavour will give the goat cheese and oranges a kick and will enhance the overall taste of the salad. Make sure, after roasting that the baby fennel bulbs are tender in the core. For this, roast the bulbs at 180C for at least 20 minutes, and check with a paring knife for the tenderness inside.

Salade Nicoise

Ingredients:

100 gms tuna steak,

Cracked black pepper as per taste

30 gms mix of greens of your choice

10 gms red onion, thinly-sliced

1 hard-boiled egg

1 pcs fingerling potato with skin, cooked

8 pcs Calamata olives or Nicoise olives

6 pcs cherry tomatoes into halves

30 gms french long bean, blanched, ends trimmed

2 tbsp red wine dressing

20 gms cucumber, into 5 to 7 mm sticks

1 tsp olive oil

Method:

For the tuna steak:

1. Put a tablespoon of cracked black pepper onto a tray or plate. Season the Tuna steak with salt and coat the tuna steak with the black pepper. Heat up 1 tsp of olive oil in a sauté pan and sear the tuna steak on all of its sides for about 30 seconds. The idea is to sear the Tuna but not cook it inside. Allow it to cool down and slice into 5 slices and set aside.

2. Cut the hard-boiled egg and heated potatoes into wedges and keep aside.

3. Bring the mix of greens into a mixing bowl and add the dressing. Toss well and bring to a serving plate. Add the cherry tomatoes, beans, olives, cucumber, potato, egg wedges, onions and top with the sliced tuna steak.

Tip: It is very important that the quality of the Tuna is Sashimi grade. If this presents a challenge, then good quality of canned tuna in oil can be used. If this is the case, skip the black pepper and searing steps in the recipe above.

Beetroot and Goat Cheese Salad

Ingredients:

140 gms Beetroots, oven roasted and skinned

20 gms baby beetroot leaves

40 gms long French Bean

15 gms Rocket

1 tbsp Olive Oil

½ tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

Salt to taste

1 tbsp pine nuts

50 gms goat cheese

Method:

1. Cut the beetroots into orange wedge size. Place them in a mixing bowl together with the baby spinach and the rocket.

3. Transfer to a serving plate and arrange the beans, scatter the pine nuts and top with the goat cheese. Serve immediately.

Caesar Salad

Ingredients:

4 cups sunflower oil

16 gms finely-chopped garlic

160 gms eggless mayonnaise

45 gms garlic powder

200 gms red wine vinegar

30 gms anchovy paste

75 gms fresh lemon Juice

210 gms Anchovies fillets (7)

300 gms granna padano cheese, finely-grated

15 gms grounded white pepper

40 gms smoked salmon (sliced)

80 gms Romaine lettuce

5 pcs croutons, french baguette

50 gms Ceasar dressing

15 gms smoked bacon

10 gms lotus root, deep-fried

Method:

For the Dressing:

1. Bring all the ingredients but the sunflower oil into a mixing bowl and with the help of an electric hand blender proceed to blend.

2. When all ingredients are properly blended, add the sunflower oil and proceed to blend as fast as possible. The dressing will tend to thicken fast. If that happens, use a fine wire whisk and proceed to combine all the ingredients until a smooth homogeneous dressing is obtained.